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Monday, August 19, 2013

1st Day of Kindergarten - Homeschool

And so it begins . . . our first day of homeschooling Kindergarten. Will doesn't quite make the cutoff to start Kindergarten in the public schools this year, but as a homeschooler, I'm anxious to get him started. He loves to learn & seems ready to go.

As a side, we have Will enrolled in preschool as well, but I just tell him it's a glorified playdate. It makes me feel better about sending him there even though I've only ever heard good things about it, & his teacher is the nicest woman.

Since Will's day started with preschool, we took it easy with our own schooling. We started working on blending sounds to form two-letter words. He's usually in such a hurry that he'll just guess without trying to understand the concept of phonics. Today, however, he caught on immediately. He was able to sound out "at," "an," "am," & "ad" with very little guidance. It was such a proud mom moment. After our 5 minute max phonics lesson, I let him color on the whiteboard. He was so pleased with himself when he wrote an "L" without any direction from me. He called it his "wiggly L" & stood up to shake his bum & laugh while telling me all about it. He also did a worksheet in a math book - learning to write the #1. I plan on having a mini devotional tonight & sending him on a treasure hunt for a wrapped gift. Inside will be a copy of the Book of Mormon, & I will explain how it is a gift to us from a loving Heavenly Father to teach us more about our Savior Jesus Christ.

Here is our schedule for the remainder of the week:

Religion - We will study the Book of Mormon this year (& rotate different sets of scripture each year, including the Old & New Testaments & the Doctrine & Covenants). This week, we're talking about where the scriptures came from.

Phonics/Reading - continue blending short "a" three-letter words (cat, mad, nap . . .) I plan on using the BOB books to help him read on his own as he progresses with his sound blending.

Five in a Row (FIAR) - We will be "rowing" Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans over the next two weeks (T, TH, F). We plan on learning a bit about French architecture, making crepes, learning about rhyming words, talking about compassion (I'm wanting to teach him the value of service, so this will be a great way to tie it into our lessons), making our own Impressionist art after Claude Monet, & learning about healthy habits (eating well, exercising, washing hands . . .) &/or about the appendix. If we have time, I may take him to the fire station to tour an ambulance.